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236
African American grocers. 31 This finding
supports the theory that neighborhood
businesses developed to support localized
needs. The mobilization efforts associated
with the shipyards and the war effort then
began to play a role in African American
employment, with sizable numbers working
in skilled trades again.
One of the groups that remained in
the city was the small number of African
Americans homeowners. These black
property owners were encouraged to hold
their ground. The local newspaper advised:
“ I counsel not to leave your bought and paid
for homes and whatever little is dear and
belongs to you …. If you possess any
property in Wilmington don’t sell just now.
Keep it till things tone down and you can get
a fairer price if you sell at all.” 32 As one
researcher found, black property owners
were less likely to leave and were most able
to adapt to the changed political and
economic landscape of white supremacy.
Carrie Taylor Wright, daughter of African
American deputy collector of customs John
E. Taylor, explained that her father remained
in the city after the violence because he “ had
all his earnings here. My grandfather was
here. He owned all the property, so there
was no reason for him to leave. This was
home.” 33
Property Ownership
The best way to understand the
African American community’s ability to
increase and maintain wealth before the
violence of 1898 is through analysis of
property ownership. Statewide, about 4,000
African Americans owned real estate in
31 Kenzer, Enterprising Southerners, 65.
32 Wilmington Morning Star, November 15, 1898.
33 Cody, “ After the Storm,” 156; Transcript of
interview with Carrie Taylor Wright, February 8,
1981, Oral History Files, Cape Fear Museum,
Wilmington, N. C.
1870 and the number steadily increased as
the years progressed. However, on average,
most African Americans did not own the
house or property where they lived. That
said, urban property ownership among
African Americans in North Carolina did
increase at a faster rate than rural property
ownership between 1875 and 1895.34
Pushing the increase in urban ownership
were the efforts of local groups, within
towns like Wilmington, that sponsored their
own organizations to assist local workers in
acquiring property through mortgages. By
1897, 1,016 African Americans owned real
estate in the city. 35 Tracing ownership of
and transfer of property by African
Americans is extremely problematic since
property could be transferred in a number of
ways that were not documented in the deed
books. 36
34 Kenzer noted that “ every ten years from 1865 to
1915 black landowners as a whole would gain
ownership of about 1 percent of the value of real
estate in North Carolina, even though the black
percentage of the state population would actually
decline.” He observed, however, that “ adverse
social, economic, and political circumstances
prevented most blacks from becoming landowners by
1915.” Another study has shown that in North
Carolina the number of blacks owning homes jumped
from 15 percent of the population to 26 percent of the
population owning homes by 1910. In 1910,
Wilmington ranked sixth in the state in black home
ownership rates behind leading towns such as
Elizabeth City, Fayetteville, Kinston, New Bern, and
Washington, and was well ahead of Charlotte and
Durham. Kenzer, Enterprising Southerners, 10, 20,
34; Loren Schweninger, Black Property Owners in
the South, 1790- 1915 ( Urbana: University of Illinois,
1990), 180- 181; U. S. Department of Commerce,
Negro Population, 1790- 1915, 473.
35 Cody, “ After the Storm,” 124.
36 As an example, Robert Kenzer noted that of the
293 black men who owned land in Halifax County in
1870, none were mentioned in recorded deeds in the
county for the period between emancipation and the
census. Other methods for transfer of property could
be through gift, court transaction, bequest, and quit
claims, among a host of other obscure methods.
Kenzer, Enterprising Southerners, 11.

236
African American grocers. 31 This finding
supports the theory that neighborhood
businesses developed to support localized
needs. The mobilization efforts associated
with the shipyards and the war effort then
began to play a role in African American
employment, with sizable numbers working
in skilled trades again.
One of the groups that remained in
the city was the small number of African
Americans homeowners. These black
property owners were encouraged to hold
their ground. The local newspaper advised:
“ I counsel not to leave your bought and paid
for homes and whatever little is dear and
belongs to you …. If you possess any
property in Wilmington don’t sell just now.
Keep it till things tone down and you can get
a fairer price if you sell at all.” 32 As one
researcher found, black property owners
were less likely to leave and were most able
to adapt to the changed political and
economic landscape of white supremacy.
Carrie Taylor Wright, daughter of African
American deputy collector of customs John
E. Taylor, explained that her father remained
in the city after the violence because he “ had
all his earnings here. My grandfather was
here. He owned all the property, so there
was no reason for him to leave. This was
home.” 33
Property Ownership
The best way to understand the
African American community’s ability to
increase and maintain wealth before the
violence of 1898 is through analysis of
property ownership. Statewide, about 4,000
African Americans owned real estate in
31 Kenzer, Enterprising Southerners, 65.
32 Wilmington Morning Star, November 15, 1898.
33 Cody, “ After the Storm,” 156; Transcript of
interview with Carrie Taylor Wright, February 8,
1981, Oral History Files, Cape Fear Museum,
Wilmington, N. C.
1870 and the number steadily increased as
the years progressed. However, on average,
most African Americans did not own the
house or property where they lived. That
said, urban property ownership among
African Americans in North Carolina did
increase at a faster rate than rural property
ownership between 1875 and 1895.34
Pushing the increase in urban ownership
were the efforts of local groups, within
towns like Wilmington, that sponsored their
own organizations to assist local workers in
acquiring property through mortgages. By
1897, 1,016 African Americans owned real
estate in the city. 35 Tracing ownership of
and transfer of property by African
Americans is extremely problematic since
property could be transferred in a number of
ways that were not documented in the deed
books. 36
34 Kenzer noted that “ every ten years from 1865 to
1915 black landowners as a whole would gain
ownership of about 1 percent of the value of real
estate in North Carolina, even though the black
percentage of the state population would actually
decline.” He observed, however, that “ adverse
social, economic, and political circumstances
prevented most blacks from becoming landowners by
1915.” Another study has shown that in North
Carolina the number of blacks owning homes jumped
from 15 percent of the population to 26 percent of the
population owning homes by 1910. In 1910,
Wilmington ranked sixth in the state in black home
ownership rates behind leading towns such as
Elizabeth City, Fayetteville, Kinston, New Bern, and
Washington, and was well ahead of Charlotte and
Durham. Kenzer, Enterprising Southerners, 10, 20,
34; Loren Schweninger, Black Property Owners in
the South, 1790- 1915 ( Urbana: University of Illinois,
1990), 180- 181; U. S. Department of Commerce,
Negro Population, 1790- 1915, 473.
35 Cody, “ After the Storm,” 124.
36 As an example, Robert Kenzer noted that of the
293 black men who owned land in Halifax County in
1870, none were mentioned in recorded deeds in the
county for the period between emancipation and the
census. Other methods for transfer of property could
be through gift, court transaction, bequest, and quit
claims, among a host of other obscure methods.
Kenzer, Enterprising Southerners, 11.